PhatDad

I have the same problems with Touring Car Championship. It is far better than the F1 races due to the tight packs of cars and contact etc rather than races won in the pits yet ITV4 show it rather than a more mainstream channel. It's not been bad recently but I've seen the races shrunk to a half hour program before.

Cheers mate, just the one I wanted. Shame it's not cheaper though.

Hi, As some may know on my way home from work on Tuesday my bikes rack decided to disintegrate and nearly spilt my topbox onto the road. If it wasn't for all the wires coming out of the top box for my numerous gadgets it would have hit the floor and possible thrown me. Anyway, I now have a number of problems. I need to replace the rack with a new one however I would appear to be really stupid and can't find any that I can be certain will fit my bike so I'm asking for help here. I ride a 1989 Honda VFR750f bike so need one that can fit that. The closest I was able to manage was a 1990 model but being stupid, I wasn't sure whether that would fit. My disintegrating one had the pannier wing bits too but I don't need those and would prefer and nice and tidy ickle rack rather than the wings too. Second problem is that when the rack broke and my top box dropped my autocoms 'rider' cable was the one thing that stopped it hitting the floor. I've rewired everything underneath my seat for the time being but I can't get any sound through the rider cable. I can't find any damage to the cable BUT the cable is covered in a soft protective rubber so I suspect the cover has stretched with the extra weight but the cables inside it was protecting have either damaged within the lead or the connections from the wires to the circuit board in the autocom unit have come detached. Any idea of the best way to sort this? Do I contact autocom or where I bought it from and say it's stopped working and try and blag a replacement as it's under a year old or do I try and fix it myself? The other problem I have is that I have the Cyclone C11 alarm and it doesn't seem to work now and I have no idea why as I haven't touched it other than to place the autocom near it now they are under the seat together. Any ideas why the alarm would just stop working at 'seemingly' the same time as my top box comes off?

I thought you were supposed to fill them so they are quite tight around your body and therefore cutting down the drag. Hopefully one day you'll grow into those.

It's physics mate. I'm no scientist and have never actually taken physics but, by hanging off the bike into the corners you are lowering the centre of gravity so more of the G force is pushing the wheels to the tarmac and you're able to use much more of the tyre as you're not lowering the bike as much. The higher up the rider is the more G force wants to push you over the opposite way using your tyres as the fulcrum. Simples. Oh yeah, it looks fecking cool too and I hear the chicks dig it when you put your knee down.

I've given it a go now in the car a few times and I have to say I do not like it. It reminds me of having a real female navigator as it seems to tell you far too far in advance that you need to turn and then it tells you actually on the turn, just like a women does. 'You need to turn ther..... oh you've gone past it. Why didn't you turn there? I told you six miles away that you needed to turn and then I actually told you when you got to the corner. Yes I am aware you were doing 60mph AND yes I know you have to brake, but that's why I told you 20 minutes ago.' It also seems slower to update than the TomTom I've been using on my old Nokia N73. AND I couldn't find anywhere I could just put the post code of an address in. Usually I put the postcode in as that's all I have some times but this makes you put city/town, street and then number in. I'm unaware how to put postcodes in so if you've figured it out Mart then let me know. I'm waiting for the TomTom and then choosing the best one.

Pop them over your heated grips if you've got them.

Don't forget me. I was only there to bitch and moan about the TAG.

I didn't know it was a race although I rode like it was one. I got back a while ago and was delayed by Nottinghamshire's finest and given one of those funky back packs, mug, stickers and bib etc. It was good to see some new faces, great to be part of such a big ride, brilliant it was for a good cause, and grateful that I was able to meet Lori and Mikey. Thanks for the hospitality Lori.

Any wicking gear would work mate. I bought the cheap (£12) set from Lidl recently and they help loads. You really notice it when you take the textiles off and the breeze cools down all the sweat that has wicked away from your skin as you feel the temp drop. I don't like the fact that the inside of my textile trousers get so wet from the wicked sweat though and hang them on the line to try and get the breeze to blow through the legs and dry them out.

Try J&S they're still cheap there. You could also buy the doctor bike ones too which I believe are the same ones as your oxfords because doctor bike use oxfords previous years design. The ones with the dial rather than the more difficult and less reliable buttoned one.

lol I wanted to do that too but thought running out of fuel was more important than knowing exactly how many miles I'd ridden. How about using your signature on here by typing your total mileage every week or so and calculating how much you've ridden form there like some do. As long as you know what your original mileage was then you'll always know.

Both bikes I've had haven't had fuel gauges so I've got use to resetting the trip odometer each time I fill up and know that at about 140 miles I need to fill up again.

Does your bike not have a trip odometer or am I missing something?

I'm leaving from Notts. Not sure what time yet as it all depends on whether TheBint is coming with me. If she is then it's a slow mundane ride to Willy Woods if she isn't it won't be a slow and mundane ride. I'll know closer to the date.

Do the motorway route. If you've driven on the motorway in a car then there's not much else to it on the bike other than being extra careful when you are approaching a car to pass but you have to be extra careful at all times on the bike anyway. Oh and enjoy the sections of empty motorway.

You mean like put up a TAG picture so we know where to go *Ignores this most obvious taunt.*

Is there anyway we can identify ourselves as being there for Mikey rather than just being there? Maybe T Shirts or something over the top of the leathers or something attached to the bike like a teddy bear.

To be honest, I've had no problems what so ever using TomTOM on my old mobile phone which i keep in my topbox so only use the voice commands. I'd wait until TomTom comes out on the iphone and then use that with head phones. Turn by turn voice is spot on with the TomTom software so you don't need to see the map in my opinion. Save yourself some pounds and hopefully if you do decide to use the givi pack you'll find one in stock by then.

Like akey I wear wicking underwear which works well but I also wear a Frank Thomas mesh jacket. A bit like a jacket made of two string vests but the mesh is tougher with smaller holes. It also has elbow, shoulder and back protection but keeps me really cool. In fact it's sometimes too cool when riding.

On the 17th of this month Apple are releasing a new firmware for their iPhone which, if I am correct, will open up the bluetooth options on the phone and allow you to connect to a hell of a lot more bluetooth stuff. I'm still not sure whether it allows you to send files to each other though but it should help anyone that wants to connect their iPhone to TomTom or headsets.

I'm the opposite, I have TOMTOM on my old mobile that I took away and listen to the instructions only and there's only been a couple of times it's sent me wrong direction due to there being a new road added to a round about etc. Can't you get hold of a bluetooth headset for the helmet and link it?

I clicked three or four times as the hazard developed and was fine with that. I just don't think you can click every second throughout the whole clip etc. At least if you click a few times you're pretty much guaranteed to get better than average marks.

It may just be the fact you are sat in the same position for such a long time. I suffer badly with my knees and can't sit with my knees at the same angle for long so any chance I can get I straighten my legs, feel a click in the joint and then move them back to position. I think Dan suffers from shoulder problems too while riding so he moves it around and tries to ease the pain out as best he can.

haha so why dont i take TheBint and you can go off n flirt on your own you meeting n riding with me n roy? Yeah we can do.